DARWIN’S NORTHLINE SPEEDWAY TO FOCUS ON 360 SPRINTCARS FOR 2012/13

This year Darwin’s Northline Speedway is going all out on a major focus involving the 360 SCCA Spec’d Sprintcars.

The local competition has been a mix of 410 opens and 360’s in past years and a conscious decision has been made to develop and focus on the 360 class. This will include an intense racing season that commenced on 12th May and is already well underway. Because of the climate, the Top End season runs from May to October when pretty much the rest of the Australian National Speedway movement is in hibernation.

As usual in the “Top End” Sprintcar scene, the iconic Chariots of Thunder (COT) Series will be a key part of the season’s racing and will be held over two double header weekends.

Local 360 Drivers are excited the focus is being placed on their class - L to R : Jamie O'Neal, Nick Halkitis, Steve Lockwood (Ryco 24/7 - Major Sponsor) and Mark King collect awards from last season - Pic by Scott Kernahan

The 24th and 25th August will see the first two nights of Chariots of Thunder which also doubles as the Darwin 360 Sprintcar Title , while the series will see the final two nights of racing battled out on 31st August and 1st September. These last two pinnacle nights of COT racing will also double as the Northern Territory Sprintcar Title.

Prize money over the four night COT 360 Series has dialled-in at the thick end of $30,000. Feature winners for the two Saturday A-Mains will bag a cool $5000 for each race and prize money will be paid all the way back to position 18 in both these Saturday A-Mains.

Interstaters don’t need much incentive to be attracted to this ripper venue for four nights of awesome racing. Despite this though the club has elected to pay tow money (up to $1000 per team) on top of racing prize money for the first 10 cars nominated from interstate – actual amounts will depend on distance travelled.

Racing points will be allocated based on heat performances and Preliminary A-Main result on the Friday night, plus heat performances on the Saturday night. The points accrued in this process will dictate the starting position for the respective Saturday A-Main.

This season the club has a healthy car count of over 15 local racecars and with the projected influx of racecars from other states, things are going to get very interesting.

Team and car Owner/Driver Mark King is overseeing the Series and further information can be sourced by emailing Mark on: markking12@bigpond.com

Man in the Know - Mark King is an Owner/Driver and is overseeing the Northline 360 series this season. Mark was top pointscorer in last year's 360 season - Pic by Scott Kernahan

Nomination forms are available on Northline’s website and a full calendar of events can be found by visiting: www.darwinspeedway.com.au

Do yourself a favour – if you can, make it to Northline to race – trust me you will have a ball. And if you can’t do the physical racing, grab a cheap flight now and rock up for the COT series as a minimum. I have been several times and loved every minute of it. Darwin aside from its awesome Speedway and facilities is a great place to take a 10 day break. The people are friendly and the tourist sights and restaurants will blow your mind.

You won’t be disappointed !

Peter McIver (NT99) was second in last season's pointscaore and is looking forward to the "big push" on 360's for season 2012/13 - Pic by Scott Kernahan

Third in last season's pointscore was Nick Halkitis - another racer looking forward to doing well in the Northline season - Pic by Scott Kernahan

Northline Speedway will ramp up 360 competition this season and what a great venue it is - She's COOL ! - Pic by Paul Griffin

Northline boasts the best VIP facilities in the nation ! Standing on the open deck is simply awesome - no Speedway in the country can match the sound you get from the 360's on that elevated deck - it just seems to capture and amplify the sound - Pic by Paul Griffin